For several years, I’ve been saddened as the Starbucks, Gaps and Banana Republics of the world take over the mom and pop shops of local neighborhoods. The local charm and personality of every American city has slowly morphed into the same homogenized version so that you can’t really tell whether you’re in Hillcrest or Kansas City. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a Starbucks fan right there with the rest of you. (In fact, I really like the book Pour Your Heart Into It, How Starbucks Built a Business One Cup at a Time as one of my favorite quotes about confidence and dealing with uncertainty comes from the author, Howard Shultz, Starbucks founder). However, in general, I’m not a fan of chain restaurants and I’d drive way out of my way on a business trip to experience local personality versus visit the same old Ruth Chris anyday.

So, you can imagine my delight when I saw this sign in upstate New York yesterday. Not only does this town not have a Starbucks, it doesn’t have an ATM either. It only has an HTM, Human Teller Machine. You have to go into the store (which incidentally is the only place you can buy gasoline and milk for miles around), swipe your credit card and a live person gives you cash. I LOVE it. A town that still has it’s local color. Not only that but the town has no Walmart, no fast food chains and no retail clothing stores.

Sure, I like the convenience of having ubiquitous Gaps, Starbucks and Banana Republics just like everyone else, but I must admit, personality wins for me over convenience. I just can’t live in Pleasantville. But what does this really have to do with working mothers? Everything! You can choose to live a life of vanilla inside the current obvious options that exist for you today or you can reach deep inside and create a life for yourself that works for you and your family. The current technological and economical climate is ripe for working mothers who want to create new revenue streams and careers with flexibility.

So, I ask you to ask yourself…will you choose Homogony or Out of the Box Options? I hope you will remember the irony of this HTM picture when your having one of those days where you look around at your life and wonder what your other options might be. You truly have the power to create whatever you want.